August 26 ,2009

The Lie: "More American women are going to die of breast cancer if you and I surrender to President Obama's nationalized healthcare onslaught."

The Liar: The Independent Women's Forum

 And Who the Hell are They? A suppposedly "non-partisan" research and educational facility promoting the interests of women.

But if you think that means feminist, guess again. According to Right Web, the IWF was founded in 1991 as the outgrowth of a conservative women's group supporting the Supreme Court nomination of Clarence Thomas. Its founding director was Barbara Ledeen, the wife of Michael Ledeen, the zealous neoconservative political operative who has agitated so vigorously for American military interventions in the Middle East. Two of its directors emeritae include Lynne Cheney, the wife of the former vice-president and a conservative activist herself, and Midge Decter, who, with husband Norman Podhoretz, was one of the driving forces behind the neoconservative movement that became so powerful during the administration of George W. Bush and who helped create the policies that lea the U.S. into the Iraq War.

According to Right Web, since 1994, the IWF has received over $3 million dollars from a variety of foundations including the Sarah Scaife Foundation, the Scaife Family Foundation, and The Carthage Foundation, all of which are controlled by the family of Richard Mellon Scaife, the right wing billionaire.

Irrelevant Aside: Many years ago, Midge Decter wrote a controversial piece ruminating about the "hairless bodies...and smooth feminine skin" on gay men on the beaches of Fire Island, and asked why lesbians had "a marked tendency to hang out in the company of large and ferocious dogs."

In response, author Gore Vidal wrote, "Well, if I were a dyke and a pair of Podhoretzes came waddling toward me on the beach,...I'd get in touch with the nearest Alsatian dealer pronto."

The Context: The quote comes from a mass email that continues:

....over the past 30 years our nation's doctors and self-responsible citizens actually drove the mortality rate from breast cancer down 25%.

That's at least 300,000 more women who are alive today because America's healthcare system works better than government-run systems. And that's at least 300,000 women who, facing cancer in the future, are likely to suffer under nationalized healthcare.

Why? Because nationalized healthcare does not let doctors and their patients decide what's best. Because nationalized healthcare means fewer treatment options....Let me tell you, that difference is real lives saved. People you and I know. Real people who are alive today because America's healthcare system works! And real people who might not make it if President Obama inflicts his nationalized healthcare on America.  

Why It's a Lie: Because the health care bill does not propose "nationalized healthcare." In fact, because the plan supports preventive care, it is likely to reduce breast cancer deaths, as a study from the Commonwealth Fund shows

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